Headaches

Headaches were like birds. Starlings. They could be perfectly calm, then a single acorn could drop and send the entire flock to the sky.
~Erika Swyler

Taking a moment to talk about headaches for Wellness Wednesday.

What kinds of headaches do you have? If you get headaches, you've probably tried a lot of remedies already, but I'll go over a few things that I've found helpful. Headaches can be debilitating. I never had migraines, but five or so years ago, I would take tylenol or aspirin fairly often for headaches and other pains. These days, our aspirin and tylenol expire, unused. I don't need painkillers much, and when I do, I have other options. What works for one person (or on one occasion) might not work on another, so it can be useful to have a variety of things to experiment with.

Putting warmed up heating packs on their head and/or neck has been popular among my family and friends. You can make your own heating pack, by the way. This is one I made:

proud of this because it hasn't fallen apart

I have heard of filling socks with rice and sewing or tying the end. If cold helps your headaches more than warmth does, go for a cold pack! For some people, it is helpful to have a cold pack on your head and a hot pack at your feet.

Caffeine makes some people feel worse, but I have a family member who does best with strongly-caffeinated tea at the onset of a headache.

When I have a tension headache, I often turn to lavender. Taking several deep breaths of an open lavender essential oil bottle often takes the edge off. Other lavender options are tea and Calm Aid. (Peppermint tea or oil can also be good.)

Another stress/tension headache helper that I find useful is lemon balm.

One more thing to check out is IbuActin. This helps me with aches and pains. Your mileage may vary!

Some people swear by magnesium.

Here's what The Mayo Clinic has to say about migraines.

Massage can help!





Recently my younger daughter had a headache that I thought was a stress/exhaustion headache, but was actually due to having put dirty contact lenses in her eyes. That calls for a whole different response! (I gave her immune system supporters, which did the trick, thank goodness.)

If your headache is due to illness, you'll need to deal with it differently, but no matter what kind of headache you have, try to keep hydrated, get enough sleep, and eat nourishing foods (like stocks, for instance).

What's worked for you? Let us know!

P.S. I wrote this post before one of my daughters became quite ill with things that herbs could not help with...sometimes you need herbs, sometimes pharmaceuticals. Use all your tools.